Edge (19 page)

“Shit,” she said breathlessly. When I released her, she panted and rested her arms back on the dresser. “See, that’s why I can’t shower with you.”

“You liked it.” I pulled out of her and smacked her ass, a little harder than I meant to.

“Hey.” She turned around and glared at me. “Of course I liked it, that’s the problem.”

“You are unbelievably hot. I couldn’t even make it to the shower.”

Dell stood, and I couldn’t help eying her again. “We’re supposed to be meeting everyone, though. Breakfast, remember?”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “You go ahead and shower first. I’ll make coffee.”

We got out of the house quick, and the kids came flying toward us when we walked in the door.

“We went swimming!” Kyler cried. “And we roller skated in the basement again.”

“Sounds fun,” Dell said, running a hand over his hair.

“Uncle Luke, are you getting pancakes with us?” Melody asked.

“Definitely. I wish you’d hurry up, ’cause I’m starving.”

Her eyes widened. “We’ve been waiting on you! We’re ready to go.”

I feigned confusion. “But I’ve been waiting on you.”

“Did you get scared being by yourself at the hotel?” Kyler asked Dell. I tuned to her expectantly. She’d screamed a lot last night, but not because she was scared.

“No, I was fine, sweets. I watched Ben 10 and that helped me fall asleep.”

Kyler slid his hand into hers. “Thanks for letting me stay here last night, Mom.”

“I’m glad you had fun. I hope you thanked the Rykers.”

“He did,” Kate said. “You’ve got one great kid there, Dell.”

I felt pride at the compliment, too. I was feeling more for Dell than I’d ever felt for a woman, and Kyler was part of her. Ryke was helping Melody button her winter coat so we could go, and I had a sharp pain of longing for Dell and Kyler to be my family.

“Get your coat on,” Dell said to Kyler. He slipped into it, taking his time with the zipper so it would work right. I bent down to his level.

“What would you like to do today?” I asked him. “We can go to a museum, or the movies, or anything else that sounds good.”

“Can we go ice skating?”

I grinned at him. “That sounds great.”

“My baby brother can’t ice skate,” Melody interjected.

“I’ll hang out with him while you guys skate,” Kate said. “Ice skating sounds perfect.”

The day was downright idyllic. I found myself wondering who the hell I was as I cut up Kyler’s pancakes at the restaurant and blew on his hot chocolate at the rink to make sure if wasn’t too hot for him. The best part was that Dell let me. I knew she was very careful with her son, and she was allowing me in, despite the lousy way I’d treated her that night I came to Rockford.

Kyler was yawning when Dell said they needed to hit the road home at five. I wanted to show her the affection I’d failed at when we said goodbye in Rockford, but I couldn’t with Kyler watching.

“I’m so glad you guys came,” I said softly, holding her car door open.

“Me too. This was fun.”

I wanted to ask when she could come back, or when I could go see them in Rockford. But something stopped me. I didn’t want to push her, and I needed time to digest the way I was feeling.

“Call me when you get home,” I said, squeezing her hand and leaning down to glance at Kyler in the back seat.

“Thanks for coming to see me, Ky. Hope you had fun.”

“I did. Do you want to come to my next game? When is it, Mom?”

She considered. “Thursday night.”

A pang of disappointment hit. I’d be in Indy that night. “I’m traveling for work that night, buddy. I wish I could, though. The next game you have when I’m not traveling, I’ll be there.”

He grinned happily. “Okay. Can we get hot chocolate again? With whipped cream?”

“For sure.”

Dell smiled, waved and stepped into the car with a last goodbye. Kyler waved eagerly as the car departed. I watched them go, waving back at him until the car disappeared from view.

I went back into Ryke and Kate’s house to say goodbye to them, realizing before I even made it to the door that I already missed Dell and Kyler.

Dell

Leg and ankle injuries were plaguing Chad Lennox this season. I was getting used to him screaming while I worked his muscles on pretty much a daily basis.

“I swear you enjoy that,” he muttered, glaring at me. “You like inflicting pain. Is this what you do to Hudson in bed? You beat his ass?”

Every inch of my skin flushed. “Fuck you, Lennox.”

He laughed softly. “Sorry. I thought you knew everyone knew.”

“I know you girls love to gossip.” I pushed a little harder than I needed to as I rolled my tool over this thigh.

“Fuck me, that hurts,” he said through clenched teeth. “Seriously, Dell, I’m happy for you. I heard he really cares about you.”

If he was fishing, he wasn’t getting confirmation of anything from me.

“Go take a shower,” I said, giving his shoulder a shove. “You smell like ass.”

“If he hurts you, there’ll be 18 guys lined up to kick his ass.” Lennox gave me a serious glance and I couldn’t help smiling.

“Thanks.”

He left my office, and remarkably, no one else walked in needing a body part wrapped, examined, iced or massaged. I picked up my phone from the counter and my heart skipped a beat when I saw a message from Luke.

Luke: I need to kiss u. Can u come to Nashville Tues nite?

Me: Just for a kiss?

Luke: No…lemme rephrase that…can u come in Nashville Tues nite?

Me: Very likely. But that’s my dad’s home ice…

Luke: u ashamed of me, Miss Price?

Me: Not at all. But my dad will lose his shit if he finds out.

Luke: He’ll find out eventually. Introduce us so he finds out from u.

Me: Okay. Wear a bulletproof vest.

Luke: I can handle him, baby.

Me: Famous last words.

Luke: I’ll book ur ticket.

I hoped letting him buy me a plane ticket didn’t make me a whore. There was no way I could afford to jet off to see him. But I hadn’t even considered saying no. I couldn’t wait to see him.

Things between us had been different since Chicago. He texted me several times a day and usually called if we were both up late at night. When I told him I was doing something, he remembered and asked me about it the next day, even if it was small. He’d remembered a few days ago that Kyler was moving to a school-wide competition with his science project and asked how it went.

The growing non-sexual closeness between us made me happy and nervous at the same time. I was starting to rely on it, and on him. I didn’t know what we had, but whether or not there was a label for it, it was becoming important to me.

I got out of the rink in time to pick Kyler up from school. He ran out the doors of his school toward me, ignoring his teacher’s warnings about running.

“Hi, sweets,” I ruffled his hair and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Do I have hockey tonight?”

“Yep.”

“Yes! When’s my next game?”

I held back a smile. In his league, ‘games’ consisted of the kids skating on half the rink and all scoring. And all the parents cheered no matter what happened.

“Thursday night.”

“Are you coming?”

“Yes. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Do you think I could be on Grandpas’s team someday?”

I cringed inside at the thought. “Well, I’m sure you’ll be good enough, if you keep working hard.”

“I want to be on Grandpa’s team.”

For as mean as he could be, Butch Price inspired loyalty. And I knew he wasn’t mean to Kyler. He adored my son.

“Want to go get a milkshake?” I asked.

“Yeah! Chocolate with rainbow sprinkles.”

We climbed in the car and I headed to the ice cream parlor we both loved. I didn’t like being away from Kyler when I was traveling, but this was the upside. I picked him up every day when I was home. We’d go home and do homework and hang out together.

I pushed aside the guilt I felt over leaving him to spend Tuesday night with Luke. Sadie took great care of him. And this thing with Luke … I wasn’t sure what it was, but I knew he was trying hard to include Kyler in it.

This was uncharted territory for all of us. But Luke made me want to brave it – even though I already knew I’d be crushed into a million tiny pieces if things didn’t work out.

Luke

She was here. I hadn’t been able to see her before the game, but Dell was somewhere in the stands. Her flight was scheduled to land at six, leaving her plenty of time to get here for the puck drop at 7:15.

I closed my eyes, trying not to think about her. It filled me with warmth and softness – not what I needed right now. I was trying to get to a place beyond my usual pre-game war zone, because this was the first game against Nashville since my injury.

That meant my first confrontation with John London since he’d fucked my knee up with a cheap shot. I hadn’t thought much until tonight about the fact that he played for Dell’s father’s team. It wouldn’t be ideal to meet Butch Price immediately after roughing up one of his players bad enough to potentially get ejected from the game.

But this was hockey, not tap dancing. That was something my dad always said to me with a sneer when I cried about getting hit as a kid. And from what I knew of Butch Price, he was as hard as they came.

London had it coming. I’d dreamt of meeting him on the ice again and making him sorry he’d fucked with me.

I’d think about Dell after the game. My cock stirred as I realized tonight I wouldn’t just have to think about her. She was here. I could see her smile, make love to her and fall asleep with her in my arms.

Shit. More softness. I cranked up the volume on my playlist and closed my eyes, forcing images of London hitting the ice to drown out the ones of Dell.

By game time, I was buzzing. My teammate Vic was bellowing his guttural pregame war cry and I joined in. The guys all knew how much I was anticipating this payback, and they’d have my back out there.

The puck had barely touched the ice and I was charging him, a fire of fury driving me forward. It wasn’t the actual pain I demanded payment for, but the uncertainty and worry I’d felt about my career during my recovery. The lack of purpose that had led me to an introspective place where I’d discovered hockey was my entire life.

That realization – and my rehab – had brought Dell into my life. I was grateful for that, but I sure as hell wouldn’t be thanking London.

He sneered behind his shield when he saw me coming. I hit him with all my weight and we both tumbled into the wall.

“Missed you, sweetheart,” he muttered.

“Fucking pussy.” I grunted and slashed him with my stick.

Dammit. That was gonna land me a slashing penalty. London slashed right back, seemingly as eager to fight as I was.

It was hard to focus on the game. All I could think about was where he was and how I could get to him. We traded blows back and forth, and I was sore and tired by the end of the first period.

When I collapsed to sit down on a locker room bench, my coach, Jack, leaned down to yell in my face.

“I get it, Hudson! Can you possibly play some fucking hockey now? It that too goddamned much to ask?”

Sweat rolled down my face as I shook my head no, too beat to speak. I’d released some tension sparring with London, even if I hadn’t finished fucking him up yet.

I iced my aching body, but it didn’t help much. When I got up to head back out, I was hurting. Not that it mattered. I hit London every chance I got, and my line covered for me. Jack couldn’t bitch because we were up 3-0.

That ended up being the final score, and I was a mess of cuts and bruises when I headed for the locker room. I was in the tunnel when I glanced over and saw Dell, her face twisted with concern.

I went over to the wall she stood against, smiling as well as I could with a fat lip. “You’re here.”

“You’re hurt.” She reached into her purse and pulled a cloth out of a bag, wiping the blood from my lip.

“Don’t wanna taste my blood when I kiss you?” I teased.

“I’m worried about you. You were gunning for it tonight.” Her scolding mom tone was kinda hot. “You need to ice and get looked at by your trainer.”

I arched my brows, cringing at the burn of the cut in one of them. “I was hoping you’d look me over. Maybe back at my room. Ryke’s my roommate, but he’s sleeping on the couch in Vic’s room tonight.”

“Luke. I’m concerned about your ribs after that hit in the second period.”

I grinned at her. “I’m fine, baby. I’ll look a hell of a lot better when I get a shower.”

She reached up and cupped her hand around my cheek. Damn, she was beautiful. Her hair was a little wavy and she wore a v-neck shirt that allowed me to see the curves of the tops of her breasts.

“You look really good to me now,” she said, a smile dancing on her pink lips. “And I’d love to look you over in private.”

I leaned down, wanting to kiss her so badly. But I was a sweaty, bloody mess, and I had to get into the locker room. Still in my skates, I towered above her, but she leaned up on her tip toes and kissed my chin, about the only clean spot on my face.

“I thought that was you. The fuck is this shit?” an angry male voice demanded. We both turned. John London was glaring at us.

“Fuck off, London. I’ve still got plenty of juice but I’d much rather see my girlfriend than you right now.”

“Girlfriend?” He advanced, and it wasn’t me, but Dell that he was speaking to. She looked from him to me with a grimace.

“John—”

He glared at her and interrupted. “You’re a fucking hockey puck, Dell. Passed back and forth between hockey players for a quick, lousy lay.”

Disbelief quickly morphed into rage inside me. Fuck the consequences. I barreled into him, shoving him against the opposite wall with all my weight. His breath flew out in a rush from the force of the hit.

I heard Dell telling us both to stop, but there was no way in hell. London had crossed the line from on the ice enmity to a gloves off street fight.

There were reporters and some arena staff in the tunnel, but no one dared approach us. One of my eyes had swollen shut, but I only needed one to see well enough to pound London anyway.